[2] Darío Arana was born on 13 July 1882, and was baptized on the following day at the Catedral de Santiago in Bilbao[1] as the son of Pedro Darío Arana Mendiolea (born 1840) and Sofía Urigüen Ansótegui.
[3] He was the sixth of ten children, including two older brothers who also played football, José Antonio (1872–1909) and Luis Arana (1874–1951).
He made his debut on 23 November 1902 in a friendly match against New Foot-Ball Club, keeping a clean sheet in a 4–0 win, and then playing his second and last match on 24 February 1903, in a friendly against RCD Espanyol (then known as Club Español), keeping another clean sheet in a goalless draw.
[5] Due to the difficulty of becoming a regular in the Madrid first team due to Enrique Rodero and Arthur Johnson, Arana decided to participate in the foundation of a neighboring club; on 26 April 1903, he was a member of the group led by Eduardo de Acha that met the representatives of Athletic Club (of Bilbao), who had just won the 1903 Copa del Rey final, to request permission to create a Madrid branch, an idea that was very well received, and thus Athletic Club de Madrid was born.
[6][7] On 10 July 1952, Arana, who had by then become the vice president of the mining council, was declared retired in a decree by Francisco Franco, being subsequently discharged from the active service of the National Corps of Mining Engineers three days later, on 13 July, his 70th birthday.